1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle equipped with an electric motor powered by a fuel cell.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2005-162393, No. 2005-162395, and No. 2005-162396 filed Jun. 2, 2005, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known a fuel cell mounting structure for a fuel cell vehicle that provides a subframe on which are mounted the fuel cell and auxiliary components thereof, with the subframe being fastened to vehicle body frame members from below to be disposed under the vehicle floor. (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-182624.)
When mounting a fuel cell and the like on such a subframe to be disposed under the vehicle floor, care must be taken so that obstructions on the road do not interfere with the fuel cell.
Mechanical strength is required to the subframe for supporting the equipment mounted on the subframe while transmitting the weight to the vehicle body frame members. On the other hand, a lightweight subframe with a thin profile is sought to meet demands for reducing the vehicle weight. Simultaneously meeting both requirements has thus proven to be difficult.
Disposing the fuel cell and related components under the vehicle floor has also given rise to the issue of lowering the height of the vehicle floor. That is, since the fuel cell has conventionally been mounted on top of the subframe, mounting of the subframe has required that the height measurement from the bottom edge of the subframe to the vehicle floor be at least equal to the dimensions of the subframe in the height direction and the height dimension of the fuel cell. This has therefore posed a hurdle to lowering the height of the floor.